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Monday, October 18, 2010

Losing my Speeding Ticket Virginity

It finally happened. I guess it’s kind of inevitable when you’ve owned a car for several years, had a driver’s license for more than a decade, and driven more than 100,000 miles.I got my first speeding ticket.Oh, I have been pulled over plenty — a few times for cell phone usage, and then a few times for speeding. But, since I had a basically clean record, the officer was always nice and never actually gave me a ticket. Usually, it was a warning, or a notification that I would get a ticket if I was pulled over again within six months.One time a state trooper in East Greenbush gave me a ticket for “improper windshield wipers” and “unauthorized stickers” in lieu of a speeding ticket. To this day, I still have no idea what improper windshield wipers or an unauthorized stickers are.But, my luck must have run out.And I was upset at first. I even cried when I picked up my boyfriend right afterward.Then, I realized that it was finally time. I had been lucky up until now.I’m never on time anywhere. And that’s not from lack of trying to drive fast while on the road. No, it’s because I’m a procrastinator and tend to wait until the last minute to do anything and that includes driving places. So, I usually am making it up by driving a little over 55 on I-787 or the Northway.I suppose I had hoped that I would get my first speeding ticket in a more dramatic manner. Maybe in a street car race or while driving 100 mph in the Adirondacks.When I had crutches for the first time, for example, I at least had a good story to go along with it – I jumped out of a perfectly good airplane and forgot to brake thus spraining my ankle when it hit the ground going about 20 miles per hour.But no, I got pulled over while driving 60 in a 40 at a locally well-known speed trap near the Grafton Lakes State Park. So well-known, there were two police cars staked out at the spot.The officer who pulled me over asked the usual questions and I gave the usual answers. How ho-hum.I’m almost hoping that something more interesting will happen at the court hearing because I am not losing my speeding ticket virginity without a fight.